Significant plants

About the activity

• Explore the variety of plants growing in Kamay Botany Bay.
• Investigate the significance of plants at Kamay to local Aboriginal people.
• Visualise plant and animal diversity through a variety of sources.

Learning intentions

We are learning about ways plants are important to people and the environment.

Inquiry questions

• What plants grow in Kamay Botany Bay?
• What plants and animals were at Kamay in April-May 1770? How do we know?
• What were some natural resources plants provided to the Aboriginal people of Kamay at the time of the arrival of the Endeavour?
• What are some interrelationships between plants and animals at Kamay Botany Bay?

Take a virtual walk in Kamay Botany Bay

'Walk' along the Banks-Solander Track in Kamay Botany Bay National Park using Google Street View Trekker - source 26.

What do you observe?

• What do you notice first?
• What plants do you recognise?
• How many different types of plants can you see?

What do you think?

• What animals might use the plants and environment in this place?
• How would animals use the environment?
• How might people use the plants and the environment?

What do you wonder about?

• What would you like to find out?

Plants and people

For thousands of years the natural environment provided for the needs of the Aboriginal people of Kamay. Fish, shellfish and other animals were a staple part of the people’s diet, but plant foods were just as important.

As was the case across the entire continent, a deep knowledge of plants and their uses was accumulated over time—what to eat and what not to eat; exactly when certain plant foods would be available as the seasons changed; various uses of the local plants including those that had medicinal properties; and practices to manage the plants sustainably. This knowledge was passed down from generation to generation, up to the present day.

Virtual tour of plants and their uses

Move through the 360º images of bushland at Kamay Botany Bay - source 27.

Refer to the information pop-ups in the virtual tour of plant uses or the text version of the virtual tour to find out about the Gweagal's knowledge and uses of plants.

Knowing plants

Explore some of the local species of plants at Kamay Botany Bay and their uses in the interactive site Knowing plants by the National Museum of Australia.

Food, fibre, medicine, tools

Read Joseph Banks' description of the edible fruit of lilly pilly trees.

'They found also several trees which bore fruit of the Jambosa-kind, much in colour and shape resembling cherries; of these they eat plentifully and brought home also abundance, which we eat with much pleasure tho they had little to recommend them but a light acid.'

Without knowledge of the plants in Kamay Botany Bay, the Endeavour crew found only a few edible plants. To the local Aboriginal people , lilly pilly fruits were part of the vast 'supermarket' that the bushland provided.

After taking the virtual tour - source 27 - name one plant used by the Gweagal for food, one for fibre, one for medicine and one for tools.

You can find out more about ways that Aboriginal people use plants by watching videos about:

• Aboriginal uses for some plants [5:26 mins]
• snake whistles [1:21 mins]

A biodiverse environment

Read Sydney Parkinson's description of the Botany Bay landscape in 1770.

'The country is very level and fertile; the soil, a kind of grey sand; and the climate mild: and though it was the beginning of winter when we arrived, every thing seemed in perfection. There is a variety of flowering shrubs; a tree that yields gum; and a species of palm [Borasus flabellifer], the berries of which are of two sorts; one small, eaten by the hogs, and the other, as large as a cherry, has a stone in it; it is of a pale crimson colour, and has the taste of a sweet acid.'

Kamay Botany Bay National Park

Large areas of natural vegetation still remain at Kamay Botany Bay. Of the 132 plant specimens collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in April/May 1770, 114 species still grow naturally in the area (Australian Government). The area is protected in the Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

View a gallery of landscape and plant images of Kamay Botany Bay.

Tupaia's pet rainbow lorikeet

According to the National Library Australia, a rainbow lorikeet was captured at Botany Bay in 1770 by Tupaia, the Polynesian high priest who was on board the Endeavour. It is claimed that the bird was taken back to England and kept as a pet.

Zoom into the 1772 painting of a rainbow lorikeet. It is the thought to be the first European painting of an Australian bird. Read about the parrot and the painting in the catalogue entry at the National Library of Australia.

Animals

Read James Cook's description of the animals observed in Botany Bay.

'in the wood are a variety of very boutifull birds such as Cocatoo's, Lorry quets Parrots etc and Crows exactly like those we have in England - Water fowl are no less plenty about the head of the harbour where there are large flats of sand and Mud on which they seek their food. the most of these were unknown to us, one sort especialy which was black and white and as large as a goose but most like a pelican.'

Plants and birds

Rainbow lorikeets feed mainly on nectar from flowering plants. List three of the flowering plants in the photographs and illustrations in this resource that rainbow lorikeets might feed on.

Paint the landscape

Use the written descriptions, photographs and botanical illustrations to create a landscape painting of your imagined view of the bushland environment of Kamay Botany Bay. Are everyone's interpretations the same?

Journey through the landscape

Take a partner for a guided journey through your landscape painting or the virtual Banks-Solander Track in source 27. Point out plants that are important to Aboriginal people and plants important to bird life.

Respond

Respond to James Cook's statement:

'The Land naturly produces hardly any thing fit for man to eat...'

Using what you have learned about Aboriginal people's knowledge of plants and their uses, what do you think the Aboriginal people of Kamay could have taught James Cook and the crew of the Endeavour about the plants of Botany Bay?

Role play, write, speak or sketch information about uses for three plants that grow at Kamay Botany Bay.